Dr. Moore will see you now: Stuart Moore makes a case for projection and self-loathing among comics readers:

"The public-hates-superheroes thesis goes like this: Normal, adult, non-fan-type people are disdainful of stories featuring characters fighting in brightly colored costumes. Therefore, the dominance of these books contributes actively to an unjust view of comics as an unsophisticated entertainment medium.

"... People in their thirties and early forties are controlling a lot of the general entertainment media right now, at the operational level. This has led to an increased respectability for comics -- all comics -- in mainstream-media magazines and TV shows. That wasn’t true ten or twenty years ago, when the writers and editors at these media outlets were on the other side of the generational divide.

"And these people aren't repelled by superheroes. Entertainment Weekly runs reviews of superhero titles alongside Fantagraphics and AiT/PlanetLar books. MTV produces Spider-Man specials -- tied in with the movie, yes, but without any hint of shame or disdain for the character's superhero-comics roots."